CHAPTER 8 ā THE FATHER WHO FINALLY BECAME A HERO
Chaos spread through Mercy Creek Medical.
Fire alarms screamed.
Smoke filled the corridors after one bullet shattered an electrical panel.
Nurses pushed patients into supply closets.
Doctors barricaded operating rooms.
Detective Brooks led Robert, Joanna, Logan, and the newborn toward a restricted stairwell.
"Hurry!"
Halfway down...
Footsteps echoed below them.
The gunmen had anticipated their escape.
"We're trapped," one officer whispered.
Logan looked around desperately.
Beside the stairwell was a maintenance corridor.
"This way."
They squeezed through narrow passages between pipes and electrical cables.
The baby suddenly began crying.
Loudly.
One of the assassins stopped.
"I heard that."
The footsteps grew closer.
Joanna desperately tried calming her son.
"Please...
Not now..."
The crying became louder.
The killer smiled.
"They're here."
Logan looked at Robert.
"Take them."
Robert shook his head.
"No."
"You finally got your family back."
"I'm not letting you die."
Logan grabbed an iron maintenance wrench hanging from the wall.
"When I ran away..."
"I thought leaving would protect them."
"I was wrong."
He kissed Joanna's forehead.
Then gently touched his son's tiny hand.
"I won't run this time."
Before Joanna could stop himā
Logan stepped into the hallway.
The first gunman rounded the corner.
Logan swung the wrench with every ounce of strength he possessed.
CRACK!
The weapon flew across the floor.
The second assassin opened fire.
Bullets ripped through the walls.
One struck Logan in the shoulder.
He staggeredā
But kept fighting.
Long enough.
Long enough for Brooks to lead Joanna and Robert toward the underground ambulance garage.
Police sirens echoed outside.
SWAT teams surrounded the hospital.
The surviving gunmen fled into the night.
Paramedics rushed toward Logan.
Joanna collapsed beside him.
"No... no... stay with me..."
Logan smiled weakly.
"I finally...
did something right..."
His eyes slowly closed.
Doctors rushed him back into surgery.
Joanna watched the operating room doors close.
May you like
Not knowing...
Whether she had just lost him forever.
